OLD 


SCHOOL 


DAY 


ROMANCES 


JAMES 

WHITCOMB 

RILEY 


in 


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y 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 


Marion  K.  Morrow 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


OLD 


SCHOOL -  DAY 
ROMANCES 


-THE  GIRL -WITH  GLANCING  EYES, 


OLD 

SCHOOL  DAY 
ROMANCES 


BY 
JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY 

ILLUSTRATED  Cr* 
DECORATED. 

BY 
E  STETSON  CRAWFORD 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT 

1909 
JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY 


TO 
DR.  WILLIAM  MORRIS  PIERSON 


The  Girl  with  Glancing  Eyes  Frontispiece 

The  Watchful  Master       -  -  Page    9 

Exercises  Friday  Afternoon      -  -  Page  10 

A  Problem  Left  Unsifted  -  Page  1 1 

The  Half- Forgotten  Tune  -  Page  12 

A  Youngster  Far  From  Funny  -  Page  13 

As  He  Waves  the  Warning  Rod  -  Page  17 

The  Smell  of  Something  Burning  -  Page  25 

Scotland's  Burning!  -  Page  33 

A  Hush  of  Holy  Feeling         -  -  Page  41 


Of  the  wealth  of  facts  and  fancies 

That   our  memories  may  recall, 
The  old  school-day  romances 

Are  the  dearest,  after  all !  — 
When  some  sweet  thought  revises 

The  half-forgotten  tune 
That  opened  "Exercises" 

On  "Friday  Afternoon." 


We  seem  to  hear  the  clicking 
Of  the  pencil  and  the  pen, 

And  the  solemn  ceaseless  ticking 
Of  the  time  -  piece  ticking  then ; 


And  we  note  the  watchful  master, 
As  he  waves  the  warning  rod, 

With  our  own  heart  beating  faster, 
Than  the  boy's  who  threw  the  wad 


Some  little  hand  uplifted, 

And  the  creaking  of  a  shoe: — 
A  problem  left  unsifted 

For  the  teacher's  hand  to  do. 


The  murmured  hum  of  learning 
And  the  flutter  of  a  book — 

The  smell  of  something  burning, 
And  the  school's  inquiring  look. 


The  bashful  boy  in  blushes; 

And  the  girl,   with  glancing  eyes, 
Who  hides  her  smiles,  and  hushes 

The  laugh  about  to  rise, — 


Then,  with  a  quick  invention, 
Assumes  a  serious  face, 

To  meet  the  words,    "Attention! 
Every  scholar  in  his  place! 


The  opening  song,  page  20 — 

Ah!  dear  old  "Golden  Wreath, 

You  willed  your  sweets  in  plenty; 
And  some  who  look  beneath 


HE  WAVES  THE  WARNING 


The  leaves  of  Time  will  linger, 
And  loving  tears  will  start, 

As  Fancy  trails  her  finger 

O'er  the  index  of  the  heart. 


''Good  news  from  Home'   —We  hear  it 

Welling  tremulous,  yet  clear 
And  holy  as  the  spirit 

Of  the  song  we  used  to  hear — 


Good  news  for  me" — (A  throbbing 
And  an  aching  melody) — 

Has  come  across  the" — (sobbing, 
Yea  and  salty)   "dark  blue  sea! 


Or  the  paean  " Scotland's  burning! 

With  its  mighty  surge  and  swell 
Of  chorus,  still  returning 

To  its  universal  yell — 


Till  we're  almost  glad  to  drop  to 
Something  sad  and  full  of  pain — 

And  "Skip  verse  three,"  and  stop,  too, 
Ere  our  hearts  are  broke  again. 


Then  "the  big  girls'"  composition 

With  their  doubt,  and  hope,  and  glow 

Of  heart  and  face, — conditions 
Of  "the  big  boys" — even  so, 


THE  SMELL  OF  SOMETHING  BURNING 


When  themes  of  "Spring"  and  "Summer, 

% 

And  of  "Fall"  and  "Wintertime" 
Droop  our  heads  and  hold  us  dumber 
Than  the  sleighbell's  fancied  chime. 


Elocutionary  Science — 

Still  in  changeless  infancy: — 
With  its  "Cataline's  Defiance 

And  "The  Banner  of  the  Free 


Or — lured  from  Grandma's  attic, 

A  ramshackle  rocker  there- 
Adds  a  shriek  of  the  dramatic 
To  the  poet's  "Old  Arm-Chair. 


Or  the  ' '  Speech  of  Logan ' '  shifts  us 
From  the  pathos  to  the  fire; 

And  Tell  (with  Gessler)  lifts  us 
Many  noble  notches  higher — 


Till  a  youngster,  far  from  sunny, 
With  sad  eyes  of  watery  blue, 

Winds  up  with  something  "funny, 
Like  "Cock-a-doodle-do." 


>  9 


Then  a  Dialogue — selected 
For  its  realistic  worth :- 

The  Cruel  Boy  detected 

With  a  turtle  turned  to  earth 


SCOTLAND'S    BURNING! 


Back -downward;  and,  in  pleading, 
The  Good  Boy — strangely  gay 

At  such  a  sad  proceeding — 

Says,  "Turn  him  over,  pray!" 


JL jj 


So  the  exercises  taper 

Through  gradations  of  delight 
To  the  reading  of  "The  Paper" 

Which  is  entertaining — quite! — 


For  it  goes  ahead  and  mentions 

If  a  certain  Mr.  O. 
Has  serious  intentions 

That  he  ought  to  tell  her  so. 


It  also  "Asks  permission 

To  intimate  to   'John' 
The  dubious  condition 

Of  the  ground  he's  standing  on"; 


And,  dropping  the  suggestion 
To  "mind  what  he's  about," 

It  stuns  him  with  the  question 

"Does  his  mother  know  he's  out? 


And  among  the  contributions 
To  this  "Academic  Press 

Are  "Versified  Effusions 
By — "Our  Lady  editress 


HUSH   OF  HOLY  FEELING 


f 


/^^ 


Which  fact  is  proudly  stated 

By  the  Chief  of  the  concern, — 

Though  the  verse  communicated 

Bears  the  pen-name  "Fanny  Fern." 


When  all  has  been  recited, 

And  the  teacher's  bell  is  heard 

And  visitors,   invited, 

Have  dropped  a  kindly  word, 


A  hush  of  holy  feeling 

Falls  down  upon  us  there, 

As  though  the  day  were  kneeling, 
With  the  twilight  for  the  prayer. 


Midst  the  wealth  of  fact  and  fancies 
That  our   memories  may  recall, 

Thus  the  old  school -day  romances 
Are  the  dearest,  after  all! — 


SJ    i      * 


When  some  sweet  thought  revises 
The  half-forgotten  tune 

That  opened  "Exercises," 
On  "Friday  Afternoon." 


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